One Sec Tech

Source: LiveScience

Prescription pain reliever abuse is soaring in the United States, according to to a new report released from health officials who call the abuse “alarming.”

Visits to hospital emergency departments involving nonmedical use of prescription narcotic pain relievers more than doubled between 2004 and 2008, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The abuse of prescription drugs is our nation’s fastest-growing drug problem. And this new study shows it is a problem that affects men and women, people under 21, and those over 21,” said Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske.

Three prescription opioid pain relievers were most frequently involved in hospital emergency department visits related to nonmedical use from 2004 to 2008:

• Oxycodone products: Up 152 percent (well more than doubling), to 105,214.
• Hydrocodone products: Up 123 percent, to 89,051.
• Methadone products: Up 73 percent, to 63,629.

“These alarming findings provide one more example of how the misuse of prescription pain relievers is impacting lives and our health care system,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. “This public health threat requires an all-out effort to raise awareness of the public about proper use, storage, and disposal of these powerful drugs.”

In some cases a wrongful death attorney, for exmple, have been called in to represent the manufacturers of these meds.  In other cases a Texas personal injury attorney has, too, in instances where victims of accidents become addicted to prescription drugs and sue the manufacturer.

The trends reflect in part dramatic increases in the rate at which these drugs are prescribed in the United States, according to a CDC statement. And this is not the first study to reveal the trend.

A separate study found abuse of certain prescription drugs nearly doubled from 2000 to 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Some health officials are calling the rise in the misuse of prescription drugs an epidemic.

“We urgently need to take action,” CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said this week. “Emergency department visits involving nonmedical use of these prescription drugs are now as common as emergency department visits for use of illicit drugs. These prescription medicines help many people, but we need to be sure they are used properly and safely.”

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My Take: There are so many ways to day to override the medial system and get what ever it is you need to take the pain away, real or imagined. Doctors can prescribe virtually anything they want for you but more importantly they are almost obliged to do it. They have to protect themselves from lawsuits on the one hand, and they also often receive kickbacks for prescribing certain means of treatment, and we’re not talking about recommending the E cig for would-be cancer victims, or sports supplements for people with other issues. We all know buying the electronic cigarette cartridge or taking sports nutrition supplements aren’t going to get you where you want to go if you are inclined to want to mask pain for reasons other than which the pain pills were prescribed in the first place.

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